Monthly Archives: November 2012

Re. post ‘Coltan’s shadow world’: I was involved in buying tantalite in Zimbabwe decades ago as a way of getting my money out of a country which was bound to collapse into financial chaos. The whole operation was fraught. The … Continue reading →

These days more and more conservationists talk in terms of a ‘war’ to save species. International campaigns present a specific image that park agencies and conservation NGOs are engaged in a continual ‘battle’ to protect wildlife from ‘armies’ of highly … Continue reading →

The anarchy unfolding in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reopened the debate about ‘ecological intervention’. The ineffectiveness of international conventions is underlined by the fact that while international law has been applied to environmental disputes, such as … Continue reading →

Whether the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) supplies 70% of the world’s demand for cobalt or 30% is immaterial in the sense that this Rare Earth Material (REM) represents a new ‘Klondyke’ stemming from its key role in modern … Continue reading →

Both the hands of the African and the foreigner are needed to work together for the protection of Eastern Lowland Gorillas. D R Congo (DRC) citizens have tried to protect and conserve the Eastern Lowland Gorillas for over four decades … Continue reading →

Here is the first of two report/blogs sent by John Kahekwa of the PolePole Foundation (POPOF) in Bukavu, located in the South Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and is about two hundred miles to the … Continue reading →

With talks underway in Havana between the Colombian government and the FARC insurgents to end the fifty year long conflict, one of the key items on the agenda is how to resolve drug trafficking in Colombia. The FARC has sustained … Continue reading →

British restaurant critic and ‘man about town’, AA Gill, created a storm of protest some years ago when he wrote about shooting a baboon ‘to see what it would be like to kill someone’. This last weekend Mark Chavez, owner … Continue reading →

Has a tipping-point been reached in the poaching ‘war’, or more specifically against the illegal ivory and rhino horn gangs ? And will last week’s announcement by Hillary Clinton that US intelligence will target these gangs prove to be a … Continue reading →

In the light of current hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians ‘climate-change’ is probably not the most pressing issue for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza; however, the climate risks are significant and will compound the current hazards caused … Continue reading →